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G A L I U M erectum.
Upright Bed-straw.
TETRANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. C har. Cor. of one petal, flat, superior. Seeds 2,
roundish.
S pec. C har. Leaves about eight in a whorl, lanceolate,
pointed, their edges rough with prickles pointing
forward. Stem smoothish, weak. Fruit smooth.
Syn. Galium erectum. Huds. 68. Sm. Ft. Brit. 176.
With. 189. Hull. 36. ed. 2. 44. Relh. 56. Hbbot.
34. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 17. 2.
G A TH E R E D by Mr. W . Borrèr in dry hedges at Portslade,
Sussex, flowering the middle of June. Mr. Dickson says it
grows in dry pastures. The late Mr. Crowe noticed it on a
bushy part of Heydon common, Norfolk, which is rather
moist, and this accords with Mr. Relhan’s account. We
find no mention of this plant in the Botanist’ s Guide, which
we presume is owing to its having escaped the notice of most
observers, and not to its being supposed too frequent for admission
into that useful book.
The roots are perennial, small and slender. Stems upright
when they meet with support, but weak and flaccid, much
branched, leafy, panicled, many-flowered, often quite smooth,
sometimes more or less clothed with soft hairs. Leaves 6, 7
or 8 in a whorl, lanceolate, bristle-pointed, edged with prickly
serratures all directed forward. Panicles terminal and lateral,
compound, three-forked, leafy, with slender smooth stalks,
bearing numerous white flowers, the segments of whose corolla
are sharply pointed. Stamens short, erect. Fruit small,
smooth.
Hudson mistook this for G. austriacum of Jacquin, which,
according to specimens sent by himself, is very different,
having linear and much longer leaves, with smooth edges.